Facts About American Indians Today

What is a federally recognized
tribe?

There are more than 550 federally recognized tribes in the United
States, including 223 village groups in Alaska. “Federally recognized”
means these tribes and groups have a special, legal relationship with the
U.S. government. This relationship is referred to as a
government-to-government relationship.

A number of Indian tribes and groups in the U.S. do not have a
federally recognized status, although some are state-recognized. This
means they have no relations with the BIA or the programs it operates. A
special program of the BIA, however, works with those groups seeking
federal recognition status. Of the 150 petitions for federal recognition
received by the BIA since 1978, 12 have received acknowledgment through
the BIA process, two groups had their status clarified by the Department
of the Interior through other means, and seven were restored or recognized
by Congress.

Reservations. In the U.S. there are only two kinds of
reserved lands that are well-known: military and Indian. An Indian
reservation is land reserved for a tribe when it relinquished its other
land areas to the U.S. through treaties. More recently, Congressional
acts, Executive Orders, and administrative acts have created reservations.
Today some reservations have non-Indian residents and land owners.

There are approximately 275 Indian land areas in the U.S. administered
as Indian reservations (reservations, pueblos, rancherias, communities,
etc.). The largest is the Navajo Reservation of some 16 million acres of
land in Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Many of the smaller reservations
are less than 1,000 acres with the smallest less than 100 acres. On each
reservation, the local governing authority is the tribal government.

Approximately 56.2 million acres of land are held in trust by the
United States for various Indian tribes and individuals. Much of this is
reservation land; however, not all reservation land is trust land. On
behalf of the United States, the Secretary of the Interior serves as
trustee for such lands with many routine trustee responsibilities
delegated to BIA officials.

The states in which reservations are located have limited powers over
them, and only as provided by federal law. On some reservations, however,
a high percentage of the land is owned and occupied by non-Indians. Some
140 reservations have entirely tribally owned land.

Taxes. Indians pay the same taxes as other citizens
with the following exceptions: federal income taxes are not levied on
income from trust lands held for them by the United States; state income
taxes are not paid on income earned on an Indian reservation; state sales
taxes are not paid by Indians on transactions made on an Indian
reservation; and local property taxes are not paid on reservation or trust
land.

Laws. As U.S. citizens, Indians are generally subject
to federal, state, and local laws. On Indian reservations, however, only
federal and tribal laws apply to members of the tribe unless the Congress
provides otherwise. In federal law, the Assimilative Crimes Act makes any
violation of state criminal law a federal offense on reservations. Most
tribes now maintain tribal court systems and facilities to detain tribal
members convicted of certain offenses within the boundaries of the
reservation.

Indian Gaming Regulations. Indian land is not under
state law unless a federal law places it under state law. The Supreme
Court held that even if a tribe is under state law the state gaming
regulations do not apply on Indian trust land. In 1988 Congress passed the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. This law allows traditional Indian gaming as
well as bingo, pull tabs, lotto, punch boards, tip jars, and certain card
games on tribal land. However, it requires a tribal/state compact for
other forms of gaming such as cards or slot machines. Today there are
about 145 tribal-state gaming compacts. Nearly 130 tribes in 24 states are
involved in some kind of gaming. The National Indian Gaming Commission was
established by Congress to develop regulations for Indian gaming. For more
information contact the National Indian Gaming Commission, 9th Floor, 1441
L Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20005, 202-632-7003.

How does one trace Indian ancestry and
become a member of a tribe?

The first step in tracing Indian ancestry is basic genealogical
research if one does not already have specific family information and
documents that identify tribal ties. Some information to obtain is: names
of ancestors; dates of birth; marriages and death; places where they
lived; brothers and sisters, if any; and, most importantly, tribal
affiliations. Among family documents to check are Bibles, wills, and other
such papers. The next step is to determine whether one's ancestors are on
an official tribal roll or census by contacting the tribe.

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